


Moving

by Wallwalker



Category: Star Ocean: The Second Story
Genre: Community: antiotpficathon, F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-19
Updated: 2009-11-19
Packaged: 2017-10-03 09:57:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Precis comes to Ashton with an idea for a change of scenery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Anti-OTP Ficathon](http://community.livejournal.com/antiotpficathon/) at Livejournal.

Ashton came back into Precis's workshop from outside, muscles sore from the hour he'd just spent training, and found Precis sitting cross-legged on the floor of her workshop. She wasn't working on anything, at that moment; she seemed to just be resting.

She looked up as Ashton came in. "Hey," she said, smiling. "Still practicing that sword stuff, huh?"

"Of course," he said. "I do every day."

"Yeah, I noticed." She stood up. "Seems kinda silly to me, y'know? I mean, you've beaten the Wise Men, right? Toughest guys in, um, well, _anywhere,_ and you helped beat 'em. Seems like you'd take a rest."

"Really." He smiled nervously. "Um, well, if you ever made the perfect machine, would you stop there?"

"Of _course_ not! Don't be silly." She laughed.

"Well, there you go." He sat down on a stool, at an empty table near the door. He needed a bath... he and the dragons were all exhausted from training. Gyoro and Ururun sagged on his shoulders tiredly; they had been complaining a lot lately, saying that he was working them all too hard. He didn't mind the work, though; it kept him strong, kept him from worrying too much about things.

Besides, there was Precis... she was working awfully hard too, he knew, trying to create some sort of machine that would help separate him and the dragons without hurting them. She'd gotten _hurt_ for him a few times, when a machine went haywire - as she put it, although he wasn't sure what hay had to do with machines. That was why he trained so hard. He was determined to work as hard as she was working.

Precis had turned away. She was studying some sort of new device at her workdesk. "You know," she said, "I've been trying to do this for a long time, haven't I?"

"Almost a year," he said. "Why?" He swallowed hard. Surely she wasn't going to say that she didn't think it could be done. Surely not....

"Well," she said, "I've tried a lot of things. Poppa and I know a lot about machines. I just... I just wish we knew more."

"Precis, what's wrong?" Ashton asked. She did look awfully pensive, now that he really looked at her... why hadn't he noticed it before? She wasn't running over to him and hugging him like she usually did, whether he'd been training hard or not.

She laughed nervously. "Nothing's wrong. I just had an idea, and I didn't know if you were gonna like it or not. That's all."

"What sort of idea?"

"Well," she said, "it's like this." She walked over to him, hopped up onto the table and sat next to him, looking at him. "I want to help you, you know? But I don't think I have enough stuff here. I mean, Poppa and I know a lot, but we don't know much, because Expel doesn't _have_ the kind of stuff we need to know about. Energy Nede might've had it, if it was still there... but that's not possible now, so no need to worry about it, y'know? And so I thought that maybe we can't do what we're trying to do here." She took a deep breath. "So... I had a talk with Claude about this last week, when he and Rena came to visit. He had an idea, and I thought that it might be pretty cool, but I wanted to ask you first."

"Yeah, but what is it?" Ashton asked again. He saw the look in Precis's eyes, the look she had when she heard about some new meteor falling in a distant country, just before she asked Ashton to help her find it. She wanted something, he could tell. She just wasn't sure if it was going to be too much.

It was silly of her, really. He'd do just about anything for her.

"Claude and Rena said that if we really wanted to - you and me and the old man - we could all leave with them when they get a ship back to Claude's place. You know, that _Planet Earth_ he's always talking about, that's up on the other side of the sky?" She laughed. "I still don't get how things can be _waaay_ up there, but he says it is, and that they have _tons_ of machines and stuff up there. I could study and study all day, and there's _got_ to be something that'll help get you guys separated again..." She trailed off, looking at him nervously. "I just... you know, I didn't _know._ I didn't know if you'd want to leave Expel just like that. Claude says that Earth is going to be kinda weird, and... well, maybe you wanna stay here where things aren't so crazy..."

Ashton took off his gauntlet, then reached out and took her hand in his. Her hands were dirty, but he didn't mind. "Don't worry," he said, and he grinned. He'd spent months traveling with her, wondering if she'd ever look at him, if he'd ever even have a chance. Did she really think he'd let a little thing like _that_ get in the way now that he had her? "Don't worry," he repeated. "You're not going to get rid of me that easily."

Precis laughed and jumped down from the table, and hugged him tightly. The exhausted dragons protested as she squeezed Ashton, but Ashton ignored them and hugged back. "Great!" she said. "That's so super-awesome. I can't wait, Ashton!"

Ashton just smiled. As long as he was going to be with her, he couldn't wait either.


End file.
